Fresh apricot flavor additive composition and method of enhancing the flavor of freeze-dehydrated apricots

ABSTRACT

A composition of matter consisting essentially of nerol, geraniol, gamma -decalactone, Alpha -terpineol, and linalool for addition to freeze-dehydrated apricots during reconstitution thereof to enhance the flavor of the reconstituted apricots, method of enhancing the flavor of reconstituted freeze-dehydrated apricots by addition of said composition to freeze-dehydrated apricots during the reconstitution thereof, and reconstituted freeze-dehydrated apricots having substantially the flavor of fresh apricot prepared in accordance with said method.

United States Patent John W. Rhoades; James W. Register, Jr.; John D.Millar, all

[72] Inventors of San Antonio, Tex. [21] Appl. No. 828,364 [22] FiledMay 27, 1969 [45] Patented [73] Assignee 5 4] FRESH APRICOT FLAVORADDITIVE COMPOSITION AND METHOD OF ENHANCING THE FLAVOR OFFREEZE-DEHYDRATED APRICOTS 4 Claims, No Drawings [52] U.S.Cl 99/140 R,99/204 [5 1] Int. Cl A231 1/26 [50] Field of Search 99/140, 204, 140 R[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,296,080 1/l967 Meuly99/l40 X 5/1970 Vollink 99/204 X ABSTRACT: A composition of matterconsisting essentially of nerol, geraniol, 'y-decalactone, a-terpineol,and linalool for addition to freeze-dehydrated apricots duringreconstitution thereof to enhance the flavor of the reconstitutedapricots, method of enhancing the flavor of reconstitutedfreezedehydrated apricots by addition of said composition tofreezedehydrated apricots during the reconstitution thereof, andreconstituted freeze-dehydrated apricots having substantially the flavorof fresh apricot prepared in accordance with said method.

FRESH APRICOT FLAVOR ADDITIVE COMPOSITION AND METHOD OF ENHANCING THEFLAVOR OF FREEZE-DEHYDRATED APRICOTS The invention described herein maybe manufactured, used, and licensed by or for the Government forgovernmental purposes without the payment to me of any royalty thereon.

This invention relates to a method of enhancing the flavor ofreconstituted freeze-dehydrated apricots and to a composition of matterto be added to the apricots during reconstitution thereof or at anyother suitable time to overcome the loss of flavor that occurs duringfreeze-dehydration.

When a fruit is freeze dehydrated for the purpose of preserving it,there is inevitably some loss of volatile flavor components.Consequently, the freeze-dehydrated fruit product, upon beingreconstituted by the addition of water thereto, does not have asdesirable flavor as the fresh fruit has.

An object of the present invention is to provide a method of enhancingthe flavor of freeze-dehydrated apricots to make the reconstitutedapricots taste substantially like fresh apricots.

Another object of the invention is to provide a composition of matterwhich when added to freeze-dehydrated apricots results in areconstituted apricot product which has taste characteristicssubstantially like fresh apricots.

Other objects and advantages will appear from the following descriptionof the invention, and the novel features will be particularly pointedout hereinafter in connection with the appended claims.

The objects of the invention are accomplished by preparing a mixturecomprising flavor additives in the approximate ratios shown in table 1and adding a preselected quantity of such a mixture to freeze-dehydratedapricots together with water during the reconstitution ofthe apricots.

TABLE I Composition of Flavor Additive Mixture Flavor Additive Parts ByWeight Nero! 0.8 to 1.2 Geraniol 8 to 12 -decalaetone 24 to 36cr-terpineol 48 to 72 Linalool 80 to 120 The preferred composition ofthe flavor additive mixture and the preferred concentration of theflavor additive ingredients in reconstituted apricots prepared inaccordance with the invention are shown in table 2.

TA BLE 2 Preferred Composition of Flavor Additive Mixture and PreferredConcentration in Reconstituted Apricots The flavor additive mixture, forconvenience in adding it to the freeze-dehydrated apricots, may beencapsulated in an edible encapsulating material, for example accordingto methods such as those described in US. PAT. No. 3,015,128.

Such capsules may be from about 1 micron to about 8,000 microns indiameter. Gelatin is one of the more commonly employed edibleencapsulating materials.

The mixture of flavor additives may be prepackaged in encapsulated formwith the freeze-dehydrated apricots in the desired proportions so that,when water or an aqueous solution of sugar or other sweetening agent isadded to the freezedehydrated apricots in the desired proportion, areconstituted apricot product is obtained after a predetermined time isallowed for rehydration of the apricots to occur, the reconstitutedapricot product having a flavor very closely approximating that of freshapricots and much more desirable than that of reconstitutedfreeze-dehydrated apricots to which no flavor additive has been added.

The flavor additive mixture may be added as a solution thereof inethanol to the water or the aqueous solution of sugar or othersweetening agent used for reconstituting apricots prior to mixing thelatter with the freeze-dehydrated apricots, if desired. In this case,the flavor additive mixture will be in liquid form and does not need tobe encapsulated. However, very minute quantities of the flavor additivemixture are required to impart a desirable degree of flavor enhancementto the reconstituted apricots. Hence, it is necessary to have a suitablemethod for measuring the flavor additive mixture to be admixed; and thiswill be difficult for small quantities of freeze-dehydrated apricots infield rations if the flavor additive mixture is in liquid form.

Concerning the quantity of flavor additive mixture to be used, it hasbeen pointed out above that only minute quantities are required toimpart a substantially fresh fruit flavor to the reconstituted apricots.It is, of course, understood that flavor sensitivity varies from personto person such that the optimum concentration of flavor additive inreconstituted apricots for one person may be too great for anotherperson and too small for yet another person. Table 2 shows theconcentration, in parts per million, of the several flavor ingredients,based on the reconstituted weight of freeze-dehydrated apricots, whichhas been found to be generally desirable. However, these concentrationsmay vary as much as :50 percent and still produce a quite acceptablereconstituted apricot product. In general, more than a 50 percentincrease in the concentration of the flavor additive mixture in thereconstituted apricots would be very wasteful since such a concentrationwould greatly exceed that required to impart a substantially freshapricot flavor to the reconstituted freeze-dehydrated apricots.

In reconstituting freeze-dehydrated apricots it is customary to employratios of water sugar freeze-dehydrated apricots of about 5.0 0.2 1.0parts by weight respectively, although these ratios may also be variedconsiderably according to the tastes of those who are going to eat thereconstituted apricots, and according to the desired texture of thereconstituted apricot product. It is, of course, undesirable to employtoo high a proportion of water relative to the other ingredients as thiswill result in too great a dilution of the apricot flavor components andof the sugar. Too little water will result in slow and perhapsincomplete reconstitution of the freezedehydrated apricots.

Having described our invention in general terms, we will now provide adetailed example of the invention, which is for the purpose ofillustration and not for limitation of the invention.

EXAMPLE 1 To 1 pound of freeze-dehydrated apricot slices is added asyrup made by mixing with 5.0 pounds of water 0.2 pound of sugar and aprecalculated quantity of an ethanol solution of a flavor additivemixture sufficient to incorporate in the reconstituted apricots thefollowing concentrations of the ingredients of the flavor additivemixture, the concentrations being based on the reconstituted weight ofthe apricots:

Ingredients of the Concentration of each ingredient flavor additive ofthe flavor additive mixture mixture in the reconstituted apricots (partsper million based on reconstituted weight of the apricots) Nerol 0.0l7

The syrup was left in contact with the apricot slices, with occasionalstirring, until substantially all of the syrup was absorbed in theapricots (about 30 minutes).

Another sample of 1 pound of freeze-dehydrated apricot slices wastreated with a syrup made by mixing 0.2 pound of sugar with 5.0 poundsof water only and occasionally stirring the mixture until substantiallyall of the syrup was absorbed in the sliced apricots (about 30 minutes).

The reconstituted freeze-dehydrated apricot slices containing the flavoradditive mixture were compared with the reconstituted freeze-dehydratedapricot slices which were reconstituted with sugar and water syrup onlyby a taste panel composed of four carefully selected experts inorganoleptic discrimination. Every member of the taste panel selectedthe reconstituted apricot slices containing the flavor additive mixtureas having a flavor more closely approximating that of fresh apricots andas being more desirable than the reconstituted apricot slices to whichno flavor additive had been added during reconstitution thereof.

Other methods of incorporating the flavor additive mixture in thefreeze-dehydrated apricots may be employed. The flavor additive mixturedissolved in ethanol may be sprayed on the surfaces of thefreeze-dehydrated sliced apricots or it may be sprayed on the apricotslices prior to freeze dehydration thereof. It may also be incorporatedin an edible water-soluble film, which may be cut into strips and addedto the sugar and water syrup in the amount needed for enhancement of theflavor of the reconstituted apricots. Sodium carboxymethyl cellulose isquite suitable for such use. This method facilitates measurement of thequantity needed since it will be easy to determine the area of filmneeded for a given quantity of freeze-dehydrated apricot slices andgiven amounts of water and sugar. A most important requirement is thatthe flavor additive mixture be distributed throughout the reconstitutedfreeze-dehydrated apricots as uniformly as possible in the proportionsindicated above. lf it is added to the apricots prior to freezedehydration thereof, it will probably need to be added in largerproportions than indicated above to compensate for any losses which mayoccur due to volatilization of some of the ingredients of the flavoradditive mixture during freeze dehydration thereof.

The flavor additive mixture of the invention is very useful forimproving the acceptability of freeze-dehydrated apricots. It may alsobe used for imparting an apricotlike flavor to other foods. For example,jams, preserves, or jellies can be made from other fruits or might evenbe made from bland vegetable materials, and flavored to taste verysimilar to fresh apricots by adding a suitable quantity of the flavoradditive mixture of the invention to the jam, preserve, or jelly. Applejelly, for example, normally does not have a very strong flavor of itsown and its flavor could, therefore, tion of the apricotlike flavoradditive mixture of the invention thereto. Also, the flavor additivemixture dispersed throughout an edible water-soluble film can be used asa component of sandwiches to impart apricotlike flavor thereto. Forexample, a peanut butter sandwich having an edible watersoluble filmcontaining the apricotlike flavor additive mixture laid on the peanutbutter would provide desirable variety in peanut butter sandwiches,which conventionally are often made with jelly of some flavor desired bythe consumer. The edible film containing the flavor additive mixture maybe finely ground and the resulting powder or granules may be sprinkledon foods to impart varying amounts of apricotlike flavor thereto.Another use of the flavor additive mixture of the invention is in theform of an edible coating to which the flavor additive mixture has beenadded prior to coating bite size foods or food bars such as are used bythe Armed Forces and for space flights. Gelatin coatings or other ediblecoatings for such foods may thus be made to taste similar to freshapricots by adding the flavor additive mixture thereto.

We wish it to be understood that we do not desire to be limited to theexact details described, for obvious modifications will occur to aperson skilled in the art.

We claim:

1. Method of enhancing the flavor of freeze-dehydrated apricot onreconstitution thereof which comprises the step of adding to saidfreeze-dehydrated apricot an amount of a flavor additive mixturesufficient to impart to said freeze-dehydrated apricot on reconstitutionthereof substantially the flavor of fresh apricot, said flavor additivemixture consisting essentially of nerol, geraniol, -y-decalactone,a-terpineol, and linalool.

2. Method according to claim 1, wherein said nerol, geraniol,y-decalactone, a-terpineol, and linallol are present in said flavoradditive mixture in the ratios by weight of about I :8 :28 :55 82respectively.

3. Reconstituted freeze-dehydrated apricot having substantially theflavor of fresh apricot prepared according to the method of claim 1.

4. An apricotlike flavor additive mixture consisting essentially of thefollowing composition by weight:

nerol 0.8 to L2 parts be easily masked by the addi-

2. Method according to claim 1, wherein said nerol, geraniol, gamma-decalactone, Alpha -terpineol, and linallol are present in said flavoradditive mixture in the ratios by weight of about 1 : 8 : 28 : 55 : 82respectively.
 3. Reconstituted freeze-dehydrated apricot havingsubstantially the flavor of fresh apricot prepared according to themethod of claim
 1. 4. An apricotlike flavor additive mixture consistingessentially of the following composition by weight: nerol 0.8 to 1.2parts geraniol 8 to 12 parts gamma -decalactone 24 to 36 parts Alpha-terpineol 48 to 72 parts linalool 80 to 120 parts